Ties,sites and irregularities: pitfalls and benefits in using respondent-driven sampling for surveying a homeless population

Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) is a survey method for hidden populations and, as such, it offers a suitable approach for sampling the homeless. Surprisingly, the practical use of RDS in surveying homeless populations has only sporadically been described in the professional literature so far, and the specifics of using RDS for sampling this group have not been reflected in depth. The goal of the article is to investigate how three specific concerns, namely the transitional character of social ties among the homeless, problems with locating the interview site, and the irregular use of coupons, affect the sampling process. The findings of the article are based on experience using RDS for creating two independent samples of homeless persons in two Czech cities. Worries of poor referral effectiveness were disproved, but poor validity of the network size indicator, tendency towards irregular use of coupons, and negative effects arising from selecting service centres for the homeless as survey sites were confirmed.     

Exploring the value of involving experts-by-experience in social work research: experiences from Slovenia and the UK

The evidence base for the methodological validity of conducting participatory research is becoming established. This article reviews the experiences of two researchers undertaking Ph.D. studies in Slovenia and UK, respectively, and considers the value of involving service users and carers in social work research. The Slovenian research involved user-researchers who developed research tools and undertook qualitative research. The first author explores the co-researchers’ impact on the research process and its outcomes, identifying both individual and collective empowerment of the co-researchers. The English study involved people from diverse backgrounds, who developed a recovery training programme for carers of people with schizophrenia. The second author describes how the steering group, and the carers who participated in the programme were impacted by the research process and experienced a sense of empowerment and how they influenced the development of new knowledge through the reflexive cycle. The authors draw out the commonalities and differences in our research that add to the existing evidence base supporting the development of participatory inquiry. We conclude by affirming the value of user participation in research in leading to the empowerment of users, the development of new research perspectives, and in contributing to theory in social work research and practice.     

The humanitarian crisis of migration versus the crisis of humanitarianism: current dimensions and challenges for social work practice*

People who comprise today’s mass migrations are the embodiment of an increasingly hurtful planetary interconnectedness between towering inequalities and hegemonies and human lives. The humanitarian crisis has turned into a fundamental crisis of humanitarianism. The crisis of humanitarianism builds up by the state borders increasingly militarized, equipped with one manner or the other of securitization, seeking to externalize the migrating people. Further, the governments seek to institutionalize and spatially segregate the people, whilst the resident population is subjected to programmatic inciting of racism and xenophobia. Racist eurocentrism pictures the West as democratic, and migrant people as non-democratic; it does not distinguish between individuals and political regimes; does not take into consideration the emergency situations from which they flee: it is thus a form of armed humanitarianism. The Balkan countries which were part of the Balkan Refugee route have become prison countries, custodians of the EU border. They conserve the image of the dangerous Balkans and consolidate Balkanism. A complex social work response includes individual, institutional, curricular, and research levels of reflection and intervention.     

Cross-entropy method for estimation of posterior expectation in Bayesian VAR models

In this article, an importance sampling (IS) method for the posterior expectation of a non linear function in a Bayesian vector autoregressive (VAR) model is developed. Most Bayesian inference problems involve the evaluation of the expectation of a function of interest, usually a non linear function of the model parameters, under the posterior distribution. Non linear functions in Bayesian VAR setting are difficult to estimate and usually require numerical methods for their evaluation. A weighted IS estimator is used for the evaluation of the posterior expectation. With the cross-entropy (CE) approach, the IS density is chosen from a specified family of densities such that the CE distance or the Kullback–Leibler divergence between the optimal IS density and the importance density is minimal. The performance of the proposed algorithm is assessed in an iterated multistep forecasting of US macroeconomic time series.     

An overview of programmes offered by shelters for street children in South Africa

This paper reports part of the findings from a 2014 audit of shelters for street children conducted in four provinces of South Africa. The paper focuses on the assessment of the types, structure and implementation of the programmes, as well as on the adequacy of resources necessary for implementing the programmes. The overall picture that emerged from the assessment was that all shelters draw on a comprehensive and enabling legislative and policy framework to offer some elements of developmental, therapeutic and recreational programmes at the early intervention level. Overall, however, the implementation of the programmes does not effectively take into consideration the varied and interconnected factors that, within and across multiple social systems, impel children to the streets. It was thus apparent that the programmes do not adequately address the risks and opportunities of street children in South Africa, specifically within the eco‐developmental framework. Recommendations are offered for social work policy and practice to further enhance the quality and impact of programmes offered in the shelters.     

The Experience of Learning EFT in Spanish-speaking Countries: A Multi-National Replication Study

This study is a multi-national follow-up to the original (Sandberg and Knestel (2011) Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 37, 393–410) article on the process of learning Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT). A total of 102 clinicians from nine Spanish-speaking countries (Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Spain, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, and El Salvador) participated in the study. A comparison of results across the two studies revealed more similarities than differences. However, a few notable differences emerged from responses to qualitative questions, namely a heightened sense of appreciation for and resonance with the focus on core emotion in EFT and less frequent reports of difficulty learning and adapting to the model among Spanish-speaking therapists. These differences were consistent with common cultural values and forms of expression in Latin America and Spain. Results are discussed in terms of training, supervision, and future research as well.     

Comparison of efficiencies of some symmetry tests around an unknown centre

In this paper, some recent and classical tests of symmetry are modified for the case of an unknown centre. The unknown centre is estimated with its α-trimmed mean estimator. The asymptotic behaviour of the new tests is explored. The local approximate Bahadur efficiency is used to compare the tests to each other as well as to some other tests.     

再谈知识分子与人文精神

"五四"以来,尽管对"人文主义"(humanism)有不同的理解,但一般都认为人文主义的论述与知识分子是分不开的。知识分子是一种启蒙式的人文主义者,自古到今,在中国的社会文化领域里始终有着举足轻重的地位,特别是知识分子自己觉得他永远站在一个中心位置来影响社会。这个基本的立场,在20世纪70、80年代后开始受到挑战。随着知识的工业化、专业化或体系化,人文精神变得离我们越来越遥远,知识分子的社会承担也变得越来越无足轻重。对于传统的知识分子的身份定位问题,有必要重新解构,作出新的思考。知识分子应该从文化实践中产生出来,他可以在现代社会里扮演多个角色,通过这些角色营造对社会、对文化有影响力的论说空间,这种影响力不同于原来的社会承担,更多的是知识的推广。当代知识分子可能会向两个方向分化:一些人以专业知识为主,更加专业化;另一些人会成为文化型的行动知识分子。     

Quality of Life and Leisure Activities: How do Leisure Activities Contribute to Subjective Well-Being?

The quality of life is determined with objective factors and also with subjective perception of factors which influence human life. Leisure activities play a very important role in subjective well-being because they provide opportunities to meet life values and needs. Through participation in leisure activities people build social relationships, feel positive emotions, acquire additional skills and knowledge, and therefore improve their quality of life. In this report we will explore how leisure activities improve subjective well-being. We will try to distinguish among different types of leisure activities and find those which contribute more to the subjective well-being. Particularly, we will explore which leisure activities contribute to the subjective well-being of women and men of different age. Our study is based on data from a representative sample of Croatian citizens (N = 4,000), who estimated their subjective well-being and participation in various leisure activities. First, we will describe the subjective well-being of various groups of people who differ by gender and age. Afterward, we will identify important leisure activities which determine subjective well-being across age and gender groups. Overall, our results show that engagement in leisure activities contributes to subjective well being, while the pattern of important leisure activities somewhat varies across different age and gender groups.